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Red Wings respond with 4-1 victory of their own

By Andrew SeligmanThe Associated Press

Posted:
05/19/2013 12:01:00 AM MDT

Updated:
05/19/2013 12:22:47 AM MDT

Detroit's Johan Franzen celebrates after scoring against Chicago goalie Corey Crawford during the third period Saturday. Crawford made 26 saves, but the Red Wings tied the series. (Nam Y. Huh, The Associated Press)

CHICAGO — In case they weren't aware already, the Chicago Blackhawks now know they're going to have to earn it if they want to get past Detroit.

The Red Wings hammered home that message Saturday.

Damien Brunner and Brendan Smith scored in the second period and Detroit beat the Blackhawks 4-1 in Game 2 to even their Western Conference semifinal series.

It was a strong response by the Red Wings after Chicago handled them easily in the series opener 4-1.

"We've got a real good club now," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "And we haven't been good all year. We've just gotten better."

Their confidence got a big jolt after they knocked off the Presidents' Trophy winners and avoided falling into a deep hole. It was another big win by a team that finished seventh in the conference, only to knock off second-seeded Anaheim in the first round.

Now the Red Wings are even with a team that's been rolling along all season and is eyeing its second Stanley Cup title in four years.

"Both teams would be stupid if they thought they were going to come in here and either team win four straight," said Chicago's Brent Seabrook.

Just as the Blackhawks did in Game 1, Detroit took control in the second period and put the game away in the third period. Now the Red Wings have an opportunity to take the lead when this series between Original Six rivals shifts to Detroit for Game 3 on Monday.

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"Overall, I think we had more energy," said the Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg. "We did a lot of the little things better than we did in Game 1 and when we got our chances we were able to put the puck in the net."

Patrick Kane gave Chicago a 1-0 lead late in the first period, but did things ever change after that.

Brunner tied the score when he deflected a wrist shot by Jakub Kindl early in the second, and Smith gave the Red Wings the lead when he scored off a feed from Zetterberg on a 3-on-1 rush late in the second.

Johan Franzen made it 3-1 in the third period when he fired a rising shot past Corey Crawford after a perfect pass from Jonathan Ericsson in the Detroit zone. Valtteri Filppula closed out the scoring with 7:57 left in the game.

That was enough for Jimmy Howard, who stopped 19 shots.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Logan Couture scored a power-play goal 1:29 into overtime to help the Sharks bounce back from two losses in Los Angeles.

Dan Boyle scored a power-play goal early in the first period and Antti Niemi made 26 saves for the Sharks, who got the penalty calls to go in their favor down the stretch.

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